NCAA ROUNDUP: No. 12 seeds Harvard, North Dakota State notch upsets

By: The Associated Press

March 20, 2014Updated: March 20, 2014 at 10:25 pm

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Caption +Harvard's Siyani Chambers, right, leaps into the arms of teammate Brandyn Curry after the team beat Cincinnati in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament in Spokane, Wash., Thursday, March 20, 2014. Harvard won 61-57. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

SPOKANE, Wash. — Siyani Chambers scored 11 points, including five straight in the final 2 minutes, and 12th-seeded Harvard won its second NCAA tournament game in history, upsetting fifth-seeded Cincinnati 61-57 on Thursday in the East Regional.

Wesley Saunders led the Crimson (27-4) with 12 points as Harvard pulled off an upset for the second straight year. Last year, Harvard upset New Mexico as a 14 seed.

The Crimson became the first Ivy League school with NCAA tournament wins in consecutive years since Princeton in 1983-84.

Harvard never trailed after the opening moments. They played with confidence and scrap against the Bearcats, who shared the American Athletic Conference regular season title.

Sean Kilpatrick led Cincinnati (27-7) with 18 points, but the Bearcats failed to win a tournament game for the second straight year.

MICHIGAN ST. 93, DELAWARE 78

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) Adreian Payne scored a career-high 41 points to get Michigan State off to a solid start in the NCAA tournament.

Payne, a 6-foot-10 senior, scored 12 straight points in the first half to help the fourth-seeded Spartans (27-8) to an 18-point lead.

He set an NCAA tournament record by making all 17 of his free throws and broke the program’s tournament scoring record, set previously by Greg Kelser in 1979.

Travis Trice scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half for the Spartans.

UCONN 89, SAINT JOSEPH’S 81, OT

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Shabazz Napier shook off a miss at the second-half buzzer to score nine of his 24 points in overtime and lead seventh-seeded Connecticut to a win over Saint Joseph’s in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

DeAndre Daniels scored 18 while freshman center Amida Brimah forced overtime by completing a three-point play in the final minute for UConn (27-8). The Huskies won their first tournament game under coach Kevin Ollie, who took over two years ago after Jim Calhoun stepped down due to health issues.

With the game tied at 70 entering overtime, Daniels opened the scoring by completed a three-point play with 3:47 left during a 5-minute period the Huskies never trailed.

Langston Galloway scored 25 points for Saint Joseph’s (24-10). The Hawks wore down because of a lack of depth, and then lost their top forward Halil Kanacevic, who fouled out early into overtime.

Western Michigan (23-10), the Mid-American Conference champion, had won 14 of 16 games and was in the NCAA tournament for the first time in a decade.

The third-seeded Orange (28-5) forced 11 turnovers in the opening half and scored 13 points off them in running out to a double-digit lead before the midpoint of the period.

Cooney led the Orange with 18 points, hitting 4 of 8 from beyond the arc, and Ennis had 16 points and six assists with one turnover.

The Orange used an 18-4 spurt over 10 minutes to take control and led 40-21 at halftime.

Shayne Whittington and Tucker Haymond led Western Michigan with 11 points apiece.

FLORIDA 67, ALBANY 55

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Dorian Finney-Smith scored 16 points, most of them on dunks, and top-seeded Florida used a second-half surge to beat 16th-seeded Albany.

The Gators (33-2) showed some vulnerability, though, while extending their school-record winning streak to 27 games.

Coach Billy Donovan’s team sleepwalked through the first half, swapping the lead back and forth with the pesky Great Danes, but Florida’s bench provided a much-needed spark.

Finney-Smith, the Southeastern Conference’s sixth man of the year, was 6-of-10 shooting. Freshman guard Kasey Hill, who wasn’t sure he would be able to play because of turf toe, chipped in 10 points.

Patric Young finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds, his first double-double of the season. Casey Prather (16 points) and Scottie Wilbekin (10) also reached double figures for Florida.

DJ Evans led Albany (19-15) with 21 points and seven rebounds.

WEST REGIONAL

WISCONSIN 75, AMERICAN 35

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Ben Brust scored 17 points and second-seeded Wisconsin devastated American with a 22-5 run to close the first half.

The second-seeded Badgers (27-7) recovered from a brief first-half rut and seven-point deficit to extinguish the dreams of the 15th-seeded Eagles (20-13).

After Wisconsin was ousted in the first round last year as a No. 5 seed, Brust made sure his senior season didn’t end the same way. He attacked the glass for baskets on consecutive possessions, ending with a three-point play with 3:33 left in the first half to give Wisconsin a 23-20 lead.

Joseph Young had 19 points for the Ducks (24-9), who had to stage a big comeback to beat the Cougars 100-96 in overtime in December. There was no comeback needed this time, with Oregon turning away every charge by BYU in the second half.

Cook, a native of Milwaukee, is the son of former NBA All-Star Alvin Robertson.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Lawrence Alexander hit a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left to force overtime and freshman Carlin Dupree scored four points in the final 75 seconds as No. 12 seed North Dakota State knocked off Oklahoma.

The Bison (26-6) picked up their first NCAA tournament win by rallying in the final minute and then outlasting the No. 5 seed Sooners in overtime. Alexander finished with a career-high 28 points, but it’ll be his falling-down, fist-pumping celebration after the tying 3-pointer that will be replayed in Fargo for years.

Dupree came on in the closing seconds of overtime after Taylor Braun fouled out. He hit two free throws and scored on a difficult baseline leaner with 41 seconds left.

Cameron Clark led Oklahoma (23-10) with 25 points.

MIDWEST REGIONAL

MICHIGAN 57, WOFFORD 40

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Glenn Robinson III scored 14 points and second-seeded Michigan started their quest for a second straight trip to the Final Four by beating 15th-seeded Wofford.

The Wolverines (26-8) capitalized on their decisive edge in athleticism on the undersized Terriers (20-13) but still had some nervous moments after missing 15 of their first 18 shots in the second half.

Karl Cochran’s 3-pointer with 9:25 left whittled an 18-point deficit to 40-33.

But the Wolverines regrouped, and Caris LeVert’s 3 with 4:17 left gave them a 15-point lead to deflate Wofford’s dreams of an upset.

Cochran finished with 17 points, while Robinson hit big shots in the same arena his father played in as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1990s.

T.J. Warren scored 28 points for the Wolfpack (22-14), but the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year made just six of his 14 free throw attempts, including one that could have tied it in the final minute of OT.